don_kessinger_was_good

Um....3, 2, 1......shortest membership ever??

LOL

I wouldn't mind Lugo, but he's not really an improvement over Walker. He brings a DIFFERENT set of skills to the mix, but not a BETTER set. Taking into account that Lugo would require players to acquire him, whereas you already have Walker, and considering that Lugo will make twice as much money as Walker, I think the sane decision is to stand pat. Nonetheless, if Hendry could get him for Jerome and Wellemeyer let's say, I wouldn't cry. I just don't want to overpay for Lugo in terms of players, and if Boston is offering Marte, I think that's exactly what you would have to do to get him--overpay. Take a pass, Jim.

Give Z and Prior what they're asking. They're worth every penny. If you can lock up Z long-term for 7.5 per year, that is a steal. Agreed. Though in Z's case, I bet they roughly split the difference, that's what they did last year, slightly closer to Z's number than the Cubs. The additions are close to what most of us were predicting. I had run "budget numbers" assuming 6, 6, 4, 2, and 0.5 for Z, Pierre, Prior, JHJ and Ohman, respectively. So worst case it's MAYBE $2MM over what I have been figuring, and more likely, it'll be a million at best. Assuming Walker stays, that means I have the payroll now at $94MM (assuming the +1MM arby results). Plenty of dough remaining to still acquire a player in trade before the season starts, or spend some of it as a signing bonus to get Lee, Z or Prior signed to an extension. Wouldn't be at all surprised if it were the latter. Give Lee his 3/36 extension for example (he's due 9 this year), and include a $3MM signing bonus as part of the extension. That would get Lee to an average salary of $12MM per year for each of the next four years (including 2006), but the bonus would apply to this year's payroll (taking it to 97MM). Repeat as necessary with Z and Prior.

Craig, According to the Cubs convention reports (see other thread) from Fleita, they plan on putting Spears in Daytona and Patterson at Jackson. Seems to be a waste regarding Spears, his progression says he's ready for AA.

Vance, You da man. Terrific collection. You're not into jerseys though? They're so expensive once you get them framed, but so long as it's a player you admire, they are so worth it. I'm going to be in Central Florida during Spring Training, near Cape Kennedy (and thus, Veira, the home of the Nats). If the Nats do in fact sign Sammy and I bring a Cubs Majestic Sosa jersey with me to the ballpark, you think he'd sign it? Or get all pissed off? I don't know how fan friendly Sammy is, so I can't judge in advance, and I wouldn't want to make the guy angry toting around a Cubs jersey.

Even though Walker hits just as well against lefties as Hairston does, I wouldn't be the least bit upset with a true platoon at 2B between Walker and Hairston. It would allow the team to throw a different look out there on occasion--Hairston's speed and defense, versus Walker's slugging. Or you could base who plays on our own starting pitcher. Zambrano is a ground ball guy, and to a lesser extent Williams, so Hairston plays then. Walker plays when the other pitchers are out there. With Prior and Wood in particular being high strikeout, flyball pitchers, Walker's defensive liabilities are minimized, so play him for his superior bat. You could even make the selection to a degree based on the ballpark. In a pitcher's park like Pro Player, or Petco, or RFK, you play Hairston. In a cozier hitter's park like Wrigley, Minute Maid or San Francisco, you go with Walker. Lots of variables to play with. No matter which of the two would start though, I'd want both to be hitting 2 in my lineup behind Pierre. That allows Jones to hit 5th against RHP, 7th against LHP (since the Cubs will never platoon him), maximizing his advantages and minimizing his problems. And it goes w/o saying, no Neifi please, and absolutely, no Neifi in the 2 spot, never ever ever. Please.

I also have my prized possession, not Cubs-related but still Chicago: a signed and framed jersey from Sweetness himself. $$$$ I won't be giving that one away, oh, pretty much never.

Wow, Dewon Brazelton, there's a bigtime bust for ya. There's always one or two in the top ten.

They chose to overpay mediocrity. The Cubs have been a top 5 payroll team throughout Hendry's tenure. He's had plenty of cash to go out and make a great team, long before this offseason. You have to be able to accurately judge what the market will look like down the road. The Cubs should not be worrying about hampering further acquisitions. They sucked last year, and were in danger of sucking again without major improvements. The time for worrying about 2-3 years down the road was in the late 90's and early 00's. Now is not the time to be focused on the future. This regime should be gone long before any future is realized considering how terribly inept they've proven to be in the present. You're preaching to the choir here, my feelings on Hendry are well-known. I just dispute the notion that the offense has been more of the problem with regards to the team's underachieving the last two seasons, than has the starting pitching. On the contrary. You pay Kerry Wood $12MM/season, I think it's reasonable to expect something more than a handful of starts and 50-80 IP for that money. If you were to pin the "blame", such as it is, for the on-the-field underperformance on any one guy, then I'm afraid it's all on Wood. Sure, he didn't get hurt repeatedly on purpose, but that doesn't change the fact that he's the biggest culprit here. BTW, note that if Wood were not on the 2006 Cubs, then as of today, figuring Walker stays and figuring reasonable arby figures for the five eligibles, team payroll would be a mere $81MM for 2006.

I don't see any of the current AA/AAA prospects being ready to start at second in '07 unless EPatt has an incredible year. A lot will depend on the performance of Cedeno as to how the middle infield situation will shape up in the future. Can Craig or McGahee play some 2B??

Signed and framed jerseys from Fergie, Ernie, Hawk, Ryno and Sammy. Signed bats from Billy, Buckner, Madlock and Kingman (that one was hard to get). Signed balls from Rick Reuschel, Bill Hands, Bruce Sutter, Lee Smith, Randy Myers, Greg Maddux, Rick Sutcliffe, Kerry Wood and Mark Prior; and from managers Leo Durocher and Popeye himself. I don't have anything with Santo's signature, I'd like a bat. Ditto for D Lee. And it kills me that I don't have anything with Harry Caray or Jack Brickhouse's signature. It goes without saying I have a signed glove from Kess. :-)

When the White Sox had their AAA team in Des Moines, they were called the Iowa Oaks. Not sure why, oak trees aren't especially prominent in Iowa.

After reading the link Serena provided to Al Yellon's blog, the poster provided a terrific recap of Down on the Farm, very informative. A couple of things I found interesting, maybe some want to discuss them? 1. My question on 2B has been answered by Fleita--Patterson gets the AA job, Spears goes to Daytona. That being the case, Hendry REALLY settled for peanuts in dealing Corey, wouldn't you agree? I mean, I know Corey had little trade value this year, and I supported moving him, but you really should have been able to do better than a high-A Judy hitting 2B. Ouch. 2. The Cubs are high on Sing and McGahee, so I'd expect them to have prominent roles in Iowa this year. But no mention of Matt Craig. Are his past personal problems sending him down the Andy Sisco Memorial Highway of Exile? Craig just keeps on hitting at every level, I'd hate to dump him for nothing. 3. Yet again this year, Peoria will have some excellent starting pitching. Fleita is sky high on Pawelek of course, no surprise there, but Donald Veal is getting a lot of love too. I don't know much about him--is he a genuine prospect? 4. And no mention of Grant Johnson. Do the Cubs regret that pick now?

Regarding the suggestion above on Pie--I agree, starting him in AA with a move-up if the numbers warrant it seems like the best plan. He needs to get his confidence up, and the Cubs don't need him at the big league level in 06 anyway, so there's absolutely NO reason to rush. AAA outfield has plenty of guys to cover the spots anyways, with Greenberg, Bacon, Restovich and likely, Brandon Sing fighting for the three starting jobs. I figure the Cubs will try one of Matt Craig or Casey McGahee at 1B, Hoffpauir has no future and while Sing does, it would be in the OF, not at 1B. Here's another interesting question for you all regarding placement: Brian Dopirak. Do you move him to Jackson, or make him repeat Daytona? I vote for the latter.

The decline in the quality of our starting pitching is the biggest reason for the falloff from 03 to 04 to 05. All you need do is go back to 03 and look at the numbers for Prior, Wood, Zambrano and Clement. Makes all the difference in the world. IF (big if) Prior is back to 03 form this year, that is the number one thing that could help the Cubs back to playoff contention. We need that big gun ace. Zambrano is a stud, but his numbers aren't/won't be THAT much better than 03. Maddux or Williams are almost as good as Clement was (not quite though). But Williams or Rusch (whoever's #5) is better than Estes. And then there's Wood. So as it's been for the past two spring trainings, so it will be for a third time--our chances yet again ride on the health and contributions we can or cannot expect from Mark Prior and Kerry Wood. As for the offense, the 03 team stank pretty much, this year's bunch is better balanced and no worse than that year. And the bullpen is certainly deeper. Let's hope Prior and Wood finally live up to the hype, and in Wood's case, maybe he can justify at least a little bit that fat $12MM he'll get paid this year. Our return on investment for that contract has been pretty miserable to date.

Carlos really really likes playing for the Cubs. I'm sure all the fan-love for him exhibited at the Cubs Convention was quickly relayed his direction as well. I agree that Carlos probably prefers the security of an extension through his arby years out to free agency, but that isn't Boras' nom de plume. He surely advised Carlos to go for maximum bucks, which would mean arbitration each and every year. So Big Z offers to "keel" Boras and tell him to shut up, mang. Hehe....wouldn't be surprised at all to see Z pick up Katz as his new agent.

Nomar couldn't help us because he's finished as a SS, and 2B would likely be even harder yet for him because of the sidearm way he throws and the double play pivot. Plus the fact he's never played there before. 1B and 3B are where people were looking at him, and for us, those are the two positions on the field where we are locked down. So, Nomar doesn't make a fit. His future is in the AL as a DH anyways.

I think people need to get off Hendry's back regarding Jones (my opinion, not a declarative statement). What other options were there? Giles had no interest in going anywhere but staying in SD. Abreu was not a realistic option, unless you were willing to trade a bucket full of players (and Hendry wasn't). Huff would be nice, but if Tampa is intransigent and only wants two super-prospects, most people here would die if a nice, but non-superstar OF like Huff was brought here for Pie and Guzman (for example). Brad Wilkerson is the only OF obviously available in trade (since he was dealt) that MIGHT have been a MODEST upgrade on Jones--and Wilkerson would have cost, again, valuable prospects. So here was the realistic pool Hendry had to choose from: Jacques Jones, Juan Encarnacion, Reggie Sanders, Jeromy Burnitz, Richard Hidalgo, Preston Wilson. Yikes. In my book, all these guys are roughly equivalent in that they're mediocre, but serviceable. Of all of them, Jones has the benefit of speed and a history of reliability. He's also the youngest of the bunch other than Encarnacion. So, am I all excited about Jones? Nope, though I think he'll be acceptable if he sits half the time when LHP starts against the Cubs. But I don't see any other reasonable alternative that would be a big improvement over Jones, so I don't see anything to get worked up over, either. As for another poster's comment--so long as Neifi is not a regular starter, and Walker stays or Lugo is acquired, then I am satisfied. I think the offense will be perfectly capable of being competitive with anything St Louis or Houston or Milwaukee can throw out there.

Am I missing someone here? Mike Fontenot, Richard Lewis, Eric Patterson, Nate Spears, Matt Craig, Casey McGahee, Scott Moore. Who gets to start? Of these players, Moore, Patterson and maybe the newly acquired Spears have the highest upside, so they should get priority. But Fontenot is the most likely guy to help the big league Cubs soonest (as a utility player), Lewis is the former 1st round pick (and 2004 star, 2005 bust) who you'd like to see re-build his value. And all Matt Craig does is hit everywhere he goes. So who gets to play? My guess is Fontenot at 2B, Craig at 3B for Iowa; Moore at 3B, Patterson at 2B for WTenn. Lewis on the bench at either AA or AAA, same for Casey. But then Spears is ready for AA, how can he not start?

Organizational filler. Cubs are short relievers in Daytona and especially, Jackson, what with recent promotions and trades. I'd peg this Skerma guy for West Tennessee. Yawn.

E-Patterson looks better than he really is, because he comes to the Cubs as an experienced college player, unlike his brother. When a college kid puts up big numbers in A-ball, count me as unimpressed.

Four years ago, just as many Astros followers thought Miller had a better future than Oswalt than didn't. By all means he's worth a flyer. I don't see where the harm is in offering him a "Dempster" or "Williamson" type contract. The Cubs can easily afford the $500K to $1MM in guaranteed money, Hendry has admitted he has $10MM unspent at this late date. He is due back in May or June. If he's good to go, he'd make Glendon Rusch awfully expendable come June 15th.

Lugo's past fielding percentage isn't necessarily relevant, since everything I've read suggests that if the Cubs acquire Lugo, he'll play 2B. Cedeno is our shortstop.

The Dodgers are dumb. They just gave up Duaner Sanchez, Edwin Jackson and Chuck Tiffany for Jae Seo (who stunk it up so bad for the Mets before he went on the DL last year he was nearly released) and one year of closer Danys Baez...who will be used as a setup man. Dodgers could have just stuck with Sanchez, signed Weaver, kept their young players, and have been better for it. BTW, Jackson is just 22 yo, Tiffany just 21. If I'm Jim Hendry, Monday morning I call up Tampa and offer Jerome Williams and Todd Wellemeyer for Julio Lugo.